Supreme Slapdown

In a landmark Supreme Court case — the first ever on the issue of global warming — the court has ruled that carbon dioxide is a pollutant under the Clean Air Act and that the U.S. EPA should regulate it as such. Boo-yah! The ruling is the latest in a long series of blows to the beleaguered and increasingly isolated Bush administration. The case of Massachusetts v. EPA put three questions before the court. The first is whether states have the right to sue the EPA over this issue — whether they have “standing.” The court said: yes. The second was whether carbon dioxide fits the Clean Air Act definition of an air pollutant, thus giving the EPA the right to regulate it. The court said: yes. The third was whether, given that right, the EPA has to regulate it. On that question, SCOTUS strongly urged the EPA to reconsider its refusal to address the issue. The ruling split the court 5-4, with conservative justices dissenting.